Mapper

This article is still being written. Feel free to help :)

(Work In Progress)

Mapper is a program that takes a game.xy file and rearranges the planets according to a standard GIF file. You can download it here:

download mapper07.exe v0.7 88kb.

Tips and Tricks

• Mapper can sometimes make diagonal lines of planets especially if one gives it large areas of white to place planets in.
  • You can sometimes get around this by using PIBACK.GIF (see below) instead of white.
  • You can get around this by making a map with very few white dots on black so that Mapper will have to use almost all of them.

Known Bugs

• If you make a map with large areas of black, Mapper can sometimes 'squish' all the separate planets together, especially East-West.
  • You can avoid this by placing a few planets in those large black expanses.
  • You can also generate another game.xy file and try again, sometimes this works, but sometimes it won't.

• Sometimes for no apparent reason the generated map will be rotated 180*
  • You can just ignore it and play anyway
  • You can also generate another game.xy file and try again, sometimes this works, but sometimes it won't.
  • You can take the original GIF and rotate it 180* and then use Mapper again.

• Mapper can sometimes not read GIF files made with certain programs, like GIMP.
  • Open the GIF with MS paint, make a small change (like black on black), and resave the GIF.

• In Huge+++ GIFs (3200x3200, see below), the maximum Y location = 3095 (105 ly from the bottom). If you make a Huge+++ map don't put planets closer than 105 units to the bottom, mostly they will just get squished up, but sometimes planets can be 'lost' and the game will become corrupted after the first turn.

• Very rarely, a starting world will be 'lost' off the map and the game will become corrupted after the first turn.

List of GIF files for use with Mapper

Naming Conventions

Mapper can create universes in the following sizes, please use the _Numbers below in your uploaded GIF files so that the size is easily known.

• _0=tiny (400x400)
• _1=small (800x800)
• _2=medium (1200x1200)
• _3=large (1600x1600)
• _4=huge (2000x2000)
• _5=huge+ (2400x2400)
• _6=huge++ (2800x2800)
• _7=huge+++ (3200x3200)*

Other Info

Number of Planets
|---------------------------------------------------
|        | Tiny | Small | Medium | Large | Huge    |
|---------------------------------------------------
| Sparse | 24   | 96    | 216    | 384    | 600    |
| Normal | 32   | 128   | 288    | 512    | 800    |
| Dense  | 40   | 160   | 360    | 640    | 945±10 |
| Packed | 60   | 240   | 540    | 915±10 | 945±10 |
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